IT was a very unpleasant day weatherwise on Sunday 13th February as 14 brave members of The Westbury Walkers set out on a nine-mile walk led by Paddy Yerburgh and Jan McCann.
Starting from Heytesbury, the route took them on a footpath passing Bird Henge – a collection of strange looking birds made from car part – through to Upton Lovell. At this stage the rain was continuous but not too heavy. Passing the fine church and church hall, they joined a road briefly before taking a path over fields to Station Road where they crossed the railway line and continued towards Boyton village.
Turning left for a short distance they then joined more field paths to the pretty village of Sherrington with its large pond with duck houses. On the far side of the village, they crossed the road from Corton and climbed to the top of Boyton Down. By this time the rain and the wind had increased considerably and since they were at just about the halfway stage, the group took advantage of an open barn to shelter for an early lunch stop.
From there they followed the track westwards eventually reaching a tarmac road which at one point had a very deep hole in it. They continued on past Corton Field Barn before turning right over a stile and descending a steep grassy slope back to the Corton Road. Here they turned left and almost immediately right into the village which they walked around before passing under the railway line and following more increasingly wet and muddy tracks, a section of the Wessex Ridgeway, back to Heytesbury.
It was the wettest walk the group had encountered for several years but no-one complained and no-one fell over despite the very slippery conditions underfoot.
If you would like more information about the Westbury Walkers, please email Westbury.walkers.uk@gmail.com
Report by Paddy Yerburgh
